Darkness, Light And Gravity
I held my breath, eyes fixed on the door. It didn’t budge. It must have been the one across the hall.
“All clear!” someone yelled.
Ours was the last door left. This was it!
A siren blared. The officers froze.
“What was that?” a voice yelled.
“Heck if I know,” another replied, voice thick with an accent I didn’t recognize.
Down the hall, a yell. “Shit, boys, you hear that? Commander’s saying the kid escaped. They’re tracking him now.” A chuckle. “Idiot ain’t realized we can track his band. He’s headed south toward the reservoir.”
The VTOL took off, roaring away.
“What’re you ladies waiting for?” an angry voice bellowed. “You hear me?”
“Yes, sir!” There were sounds of scrambling chaos as they ran to the waiting vehicles, loud boots fading in the distance.
After what felt like ages, we both let out a breath. Had we made it?
Fitz was pale. “That was too close. You okay?”
Too shocked to speak, I nodded.
We sat in silence, waiting for them to come back. I couldn’t believe it. Were they really gone?
“This doesn’t change anything,” Professor Fitz said at last. “We need to leave, the sooner the better. So, you’re cynetic?” He laughed, shaking his head. “I should have known.”
“I didn’t even know myself. Found out a few days ago, and I’m still not sure,” I added. “I’m wolfish, how could I be cynetic?”
“For now, let’s focus on surviving.”
“Professor Fitz,” I blurted out, voicing the question I’d been ignoring, “am I a freak?”
“No, son, you’re not a freak. I have no idea what you are. You’re different, you’re special. But you’re not a freak.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know what you are, but you’re hope, hope that one day we can reunify the subspecies.”
Whatever that means... for some reason, it made me feel better.
“Since we’re going to be spending a lot of time together and almost died, you should call me Fitz. Everyone does. I’m not your professor anymore. We won’t be coming back.”
We won’t? What about Mom and Vynce?
“We were lucky once,” he said. “It won’t happen again. I’ll try to keep you safe, but you never know.”
We left as dusk settled, winter days becoming short.
He pushed a brisk pace, muscular legs whooshing in his black trainers, gray shoes gliding along the dirt path. Once we made it to the woods, I relaxed a bit. The woods were my element.
After an hour, I couldn’t see jack. How could he?
I asked.
“Spectraglasses.” He tapped the wiry metallic frames.
How’d I missed those earlier? I felt a twinge of jealousy. “Infrared?”
“Zoom, too. You can try these when we stop for the night.”
We’d been going for maybe ten silent minutes when I got a bad feeling. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“I know,” he replied in a hushed whisper. “Something or someone’s been following us.”
“There’s a turn next to that big tree, not the Solstice one.” I motioned with my head and outlined a plan. “On the count of three.”
At three, he sped off, and I fell back, pretending to pee. It took two minutes to make it to the tree but Fitz wasn’t in the branches. Where was he?
Turning the corner, I tensed, breathing shallow, ready for an attack. Any. Second. Now. Any second…
After five minutes, I turned. Where was Fitz? What happened?
Crash.
A bright light filled the wood.
11
Smoking Gun
I ran toward the noise. It was off the trail a ways. Bushes and thorns tore at me as I panicked. It was too late.
The smell of burnt wood wafted through the air. A blaster? “Raek, is that you? Help!” Fitz called.
Shoot. My mind went into overdrive. The DNS had captured Fitz. How many...
A growing fire flickered, and I smelled, mmm. What was that? My stomach was playing tricks on me. No... Was that roast boar?
What was going on? Bandits?
Fitz sat cross-legged, stoking a fire, smiling as a thick slab of juicy meat cooked on the makeshift spit. It smelled delicious. “Raek, that you? You can come out now. It was a test.”
I crept through the trees and stepped into the otherwise empty clearing. “What’s going on? Where’s the DNS? What happened?”
“Calm down, son.” He smiled. “It was just a test. You passed.”
When I didn’t say anything, he added, “You have to be paranoid to survive now. Everyone’s looking for you. You don’t know who you can trust, not even me. Now come here, help me with this boar.”
“No!” I spat. Prick. “Why’d you do that? I could’ve killed you.”
“But you didn’t.” He gave me a serious look and held my stare. “You stayed level-headed, investigated, and were ready for anything. You even made a good plan.”
But still… “And the person following us?”
“A deer, probably used to humans feeding it and wanted to stay close. I brought the boar from school,” he added.
“You’re sure it is safe?” There could still be something out there.
He nodded. He’d set up perimeter sensors.
Idiot. I should punch him.
He bribed me with the lenses, and, by the time I’d finished with the glasses, the hog was perfect: a blood-red rare. Mom never hit the mark.
“Those lenses,” Fitz said once we’d finished eating, “are just some of what your eyes are capable of once you get your SmartCore running. Known a few cynetics in my day,” he added when he saw my surprise.
I sighed. “It doesn’t always work. If I tap here,” I touched my right temple, “sometimes it activates, and other times, it doesn’t.” I could hear the frustration in my voice. None of it made sense.
“We’ll figure it out.” He patted me on the back. “Hang in there.”
A half-hearted nod. And somehow, I had to find my family.
We slept most of the day, using the packs to block the sun from our eyes. I slept better on that tiny pad than I’d ever slept on our ratty mattress at home. Vynce rolled a lot and Mom snored. How were they doing? Where were they? Were they okay?
Guilt gripped me. It had been twelve hours since I’d thought about them. My own family, and I was leaving them behind. What son, what brother, what person does that? I had to find them.
“We made good time last night,” Fitz said, saving me from myself for the time being. “In a day or two, we’ll be outside the danger zone. I doubt they’ll use many drones or VTOLs this far out.”
“You’ve seen a drone? In real life, I mean, not in the holos?”
“I have.” A mischievous look crossed his face, an epic story in the glint of his eyes. “Let’s say drones and I have a difficult relationship. They’ve caused me a few headaches. To be fair, I’ve shot down a couple. Guess we’re even.”